888Poker Shows How 888Live Defines a Poker Festival

In today’s poker world, an operator must set itself apart from the rest with special offers and unique promotions. But to be a truly respected company, it must do all of this while putting the poker player first and making every experience more accessible to all levels of players. It is tougher than it sounds, but 888poker is doing it.

The recent announcement of the 888Live Festival series is one of the ways that 888poker is stepping up its game and showing that it’s ready to compete on the big stage.

I like how this promo says both, "Hey, come play poker" & "LOOK UPON MY WORKS YE MIGHTY AND DESPAIR." @888poker pic.twitter.com/lnCuxPQz4k

— Kara Scott (@KaraOTR) September 5, 2016

Redefining the Poker Festival

For quite a few years, when a poker entity hosts a series of poker tournaments at a land-based location, it gets called a festival. A generic definition of a festival is an organized series of events, typically held annually in the same place. But Merriam-Webster goes further to say that it is a time of celebration, or a periodic celebration or program of events when people gather to celebrate something.

888poker decided on the full celebratory definition when establishing its new 888Live Festival series. Organizers wanted each stop in the series to be a fun experience, something that encompasses all of what people have grown to love about poker and some of what they’ve never even experienced yet. It should be a commemorative experience and something for the memory books, not just a list of tournaments dictated by the higher-stakes pros.

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Going with the theme of “bigger and better,” the 888Live Festival will offer big players (well-known stars of poker playing at all levels), big prize pools (guarantees totaling more than $500K), and bigger schedules to include everyone.

Meet me in London for the @888poker live event at Aspers Casino October 13-23 with a range of tournament buy ins from £200-£2000 #888poker #london #poker #livepoker #888live #tournament

A photo posted by Chris Moorman (@moorman1) on Sep 6, 2016 at 8:55am PDT

Live in London

The first 888Live Festival is already scheduled and on the calendar for October 13-23, with 11 full days of poker at Aspers Casino in London. The UK staple in the poker world offers 40 tables for tournaments and cash games, as well as numerous dining and nightlife options. And for those who have already experienced Aspers, Head of Poker John Scanlon urges another look. “It’s a pretty special place to play poker and with the new partnership with 888, things are going to get a hell of a lot better in the coming months.”

888poker ambassador Kara Scott will be hosting the action at Aspers. Not only does she have a fondness for the location and 888poker, she is the best person to host the inaugural 888Live Festival. Her passion for the game stems from the people she meets, welcoming new players to the game and finding that shared love of the game with others from around the world. Seeing her friendly face at Aspers will make players – even the first-timers – feel at home and ready to take on the live tournament scene.

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While Scott is hosting and making players feel welcome, she won’t be the only 888-sponsored player in the building. Chris Moorman, Dominik Nitsche, and Sofia Lovgren will also be participating in the action. And one of the most fun aspects of playing with them at the tables is that they each carry an £888 bounty on their heads.

Well THIS is going to make it tougher for me to win the London festival main event. An $888 bounty. ♠️♣️♥️♦️ https://t.co/RavT4j2z7W

— Kara Scott (@KaraOTR) September 1, 2016

In addition to quite a few fun events planned at the upcoming festival for 888poker qualifiers, the lineup of tournaments is refreshing. The opening event will be a £220 buy-in NLHE tournament with a £100K guaranteed prize pool, and other events like the Lightning 6-Max and Turbo Mega Deep tournaments are available for low buy-ins of just £120. Even the Main Event will be affordable to many players with its £880 buy-in and £200K guarantee. Of course, there will be satellites running at Aspers for discounted entries as well.

There is still time to qualify online as well. 888poker is offering Main Event satellites for $109, and qualifiers for the opening event are running for $30 buy-ins. Those are the most direct ways to win, but satellites are running online around the clock for as low as one cent.

Rediscover the Fun of Poker

High-stakes poker pros can find action at massive tournament series around the world or even create their own with cash games that see more money on the table than most poker players will see in a lifetime. But for the majority of the poker world, 888poker is providing a diverse mix of solid tournaments with good structures, lucrative events with sizeable guarantees, and the opportunity to attend a festival that incorporates everything that players truly love about the game.

If you want reentries and high roller tournaments, there will be another one of those around the corner. But the 888Live Festival is for everyone else. The 11-day series at Aspers should prove that beyond any doubt.